The present invention relates to a disc changer apparatus, and particularly to a technical field of a disc changer apparatus for suitably selecting one of a plurality of disc-like recording media inserted in a housing and performing reproduction of information from the selected recording medium and the like.
Known disc changer apparatuses have a configuration including trays for carrying disc-like recording media, a stocker having a plurality of containing portions for separately containing the disc-like recording media mounted on the trays, and a drive portion for recording or reproducing information signals on or from a desired one of the disc-like recording media carried by the trays.
One of these related art disc changer apparatuses is of a type in which at the time of containing a disc-like recording medium in the stocker, the stocker is lifted or lowered to contain the disc-like recording medium in an empty containing portion.
In the above-described related art disc changer apparatus in which the stocker is lifted or lowered to contain a disc-like recording medium in an empty containing portion, it is required to provide a specialized lifting/lowering mechanism, a sensor for detecting an empty containing portion, and the like, and further to provide a specialized motor for operating the lifting/lowering mechanism in addition to a motor for carrying the trays. As a result, there occurs a problem in increasing the number of parts, thereby obstructing the reduction in production cost.
On the other hand, there is known a disc changer apparatus intended to reduce the number of parts, which includes a plurality of containing portions for containing disc-like recording media, wherein roulette type trays serving as a stocker are rotated to exchange the disc-like recording media from each other; however, in such a disc changer apparatus, since the disc-like recording media are contained on one plane, there occurs a problem in increasing the entire size of the disc changer apparatus.
An object of the present invention is to reduce the number of parts of a disc changer apparatus and to miniaturize the disc changer apparatus.
To achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disc changer apparatus including:
a disc table rotating together with a disc mounted thereon;
reproducing means for reproducing information from a disc rotating together with the disc table;
a first tray for carrying a disc mounted thereon between a loading position at which a disc is loaded and a mounting position at which a disc is mounted on the disc table and between the disc mounting position and a containing position at which a disc is contained;
a second tray which is engaged with the first tray for carrying the first tray between the disc loading position and the disc mounting position;
containing means for stacking and containing a plurality of the first trays in a stacking direction substantially perpendicular to principal planes of discs mounted on the first trays; and
moving means for moving at least one of the first trays contained in the containing means in one direction based on the stacking direction, to form a containing space for containing the first tray located at the disc mounting position on the side, opposed to the side of the one direction, of the containing means.
With this configuration, unlike the related art disc changer apparatus in which the stocker is lifted/lowered to contain a tray in an empty containing portion, it is possible to eliminate the need of provision of a specialized lifting/lowering mechanism, a sensor for detecting an empty containing portion, and the like, and hence to correspondingly reduce the number of parts. This is advantageous in reducing the production cost.
Since the sub-trays can be stacked in the stocker without use of roulette type trays serving as the stocker in consideration of reduction in the number of parts, the disc changer apparatus can be miniaturized.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disc changer apparatus including:
a base unit including a disc table rotating together with a disc mounted thereon and reproducing means for reproducing information from a disc rotating together with the disc table;
a sub-tray for carrying a disc mounted thereon between a loading position at which a disc is loaded and a mounting position at which a disc is mounted on the disc table and between the disc mounting position and a containing position at which a disc is contained;
a main tray which is engaged with the sub-tray for carrying the sub-tray between the disc loading position and the disc mounting position;
a stocker lifted or lowered relative to the main tray, the stocker internally having a plurality of containing portions allowed to stack a plurality of the sub-trays in the lifting/lowering direction of the stocker;
a cam gear rotated by a drive motor;
a first slider which is moved, along with rotation of the cam gear, in a carrying direction where the sub-trays are carried so as to carry the main tray and the sub-trays in the carrying direction along with movement of the first slider in the carrying direction;
a second slider having a cam groove formed into a stepped shape in the lifting/lowering direction of the stocker, wherein the second slider is moved in the carrying direction along with rotation of the cam gear so as to control lifting/lowering operations of at least the base unit and the stocker by the cam groove formed in the second slider; and
movement means which is lifted or lowered together with the base unit along with movement of the second slider so as to move at least one of the sub-trays contained in the stocker in the lifting or lowering direction to form one containing portion for containing the sub-tray located at the disc mounting position on the side, opposed to the side of the lifting or lowering direction, of the plurality of containing portions.
With this configuration, since the first slider and the second slider are selectively moved in the longitudinal direction by rotation of the cam gear rotated by a motor to move the main tray and the sub-trays and lift or lower the base unit and the stocker, it is possible to more reduce the number of parts.
In the disc changer apparatus according to the second aspect, preferably, the cam gear has a cam groove in one surface and an engagement pin on the other surface; the first slider has a cam groove in which the engagement pin of the cam gear is to be engaged; and the cam groove of the first slider has a first projection for moving, when the sub-tray is moved from the disc containing position to the disc mounting position, the first slider to a first position corresponding to the disc mounting position, and a second projection for moving, when the sub-tray is moved from the disc loading position to the disc mounting position, the first slider to a second position offset to the disc containing position side from the first position corresponding to the disc mounting position.
With this configuration, when the sub-tray is moved from the disc containing position to the disc mounting position, the engagement pin of the cam gear is moved in the movement direction from the disc containing position to the disc mounting position by an amount corresponding to the projecting amount of the first projection, while when the main tray is moved from the pull-out position to the disc mounting position, the engagement pin of the cam gear is moved in the movement direction from the pull-out position to the disc mounting position by an amount corresponding to the projecting amount of the second projection. As a result, it is possible to certainly move the sub-tray and the main tray to the disc mounting position.
The disc changer apparatus according to the second aspect, preferably, further includes a housing provided to cover the components of the disc changer apparatus; a control circuit board provided in the housing and having at least a control circuit for controlling the motor; a relay board provided in the housing and electrically connected to the control circuit board via a flexible board; and a main board provided in the housing, the main board being electrically connected to the relay board via a flexible board so as to control at least power supply to the control circuit board via the relay board.
With this configuration, since a vibration system generated at the time of reproducing the disc-like recording medium and the like is ended in the disc changer apparatus and is less affected by another connection line led from the relay board and connected to the main board, it is possible to reduce occurrence of tracking errors and hence to optimize the operation of reproducing signals recorded on a disc-like recording medium and the like.